This invention pertains to a new and distinct variety of sweet potato.
Genus and species name: This new and distinct sweetpotato variety, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., demonstrates both superior processing qualities and high total-sugar content as compared to other available sweetpotato varieties known to the inventors.
Variety denomination: This new and distinct sweetpotato variety is identified as xe2x80x98L96-117xe2x80x99, and is characterized by its dark orange flesh and its elongated roots.
Sweetpotatoes, unlike Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), are not tuber propagated plants. A xe2x80x9ctuberxe2x80x9d is a short, thickened portion of an underground branch. Along a tuber are found xe2x80x9ceyes,xe2x80x9d each of which comprises a ridge bearing a scale-like leaf (analogous to a branch leaf) having minute meristematic buds in the axial of the leaf. By contrast, sweet potato roots are developmentally and anatomically true roots, lacking meristematic buds, and are not derived from an underground branch. Sweet potatoes do not form tubers.